I just read an article stating there are only three living WWI vets left. It seems like they all faded away without receiving the recognition they deserved. I’ve only met one WWI vet in my life. He was my great uncle Benny. Benny served with the 88th Division and told me that he survived the war but nearly died on the troop ship coming home because of a serious flu outbreak.

There is rampant misuse of the term “crusher cap” in reference to US visor caps in the WWII militaria collecting market. A crusher cap is a type of visor cap that is intended to be soft and pliable. Germans also had a crusher cap designed for field use, but that is another topic. US crusher caps were designed for pilots and air personnel to comfortably wear under their headset.

Until recently, little was known or published about MACV-SOG, an elite US Special Forces reconnaissance unit in Vietnam. SOG was under joint command by 5th Special Forces Group and CIA with an objective to recon and disrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail by running cross-border operations into denied areas, primarily Laos and Cambodia. SOG recon teams were small, typically 6 to 8 men.

The first jungle boots to be worn in South East Asia where developed immediately post WWII for use in Panama. They resembled WWII boots by having double buckles and a russet brown leather finish. They saw limited use in Vietnam with the exception of being worn by early Special Forces advisor teams in Laos (Operation Hot Foot / White Star) and occasionally by TDY teams in Vietnam.

This uniform grouping was worn by PFC James J. Kriha, Service Company 401st GIF, 101st Airborne. Kriha was a post D-Day replacement and fought in Holland (Operation Market Garden), where he was seriously wounded and spent the next year and a half in hospitals recovering.